WORLD
Google and Microsoft bet on 27-year-old Stanford alum to make AI work for a billion users
Preethi, who goes by a single name, as is common in the region, is among the 70 workers hired in Agara and neighboring villages by a startup called Karya to gather text, voice and image data in India’s vernacular languages.
WORLD
World’s top sugar trader is having Deja Vu of an epic shortage
Consecutive years of deficits, weather damage in key crops and shipping bottlenecks are reminding the world’s top sugar trading company of 2010 and 2011, when prices of the sweetener hit a three-decade high.
TRENDS
Google and Microsoft bet on 27-year-old Stanford alum to make AI work for a billion users
After three days of working with Karya, Preethi earned 4,500 rupees ($54), more than four times the amount the 22-year-old high school graduate usually makes as a tailor in an entire month.
BUSINESS
Worst of Nigeria’s Naira devaluation over, Airtel Africa boss says
BUSINESS
Investcorp Capital seeks up to $403 million in UAE listing
The price range for the investment vehicle was set at 1.90 dirhams to 2.30 dirhams per share, according to a statement
TRENDS
Where to feast Diwali this year in London like never before
The food is so ingrained in British culture that in 2001 then-Foreign Secretary Robin Cook dubbed chicken tikka masala the national dish.
WORLD
Abu Dhabi weighs investment pledges worth $50 billion for India
Any new investments would follow Narendra Modi’s meetings with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed in July.
ECONOMY
CEA Nageswaran sees RBI holding fire if Fed hikes again
The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday while still keeping alive the possibility of more hikes given inflation remains above its 2% target and economic growth is strong.
MARKETS
A record number of Indian firms are going public this year
India’s major equity benchmarks touched record levels earlier this year, with earnings and the economy growing despite the highest interest rates since 2018.
WORLD
China offers cash to rocket startups in hunt for its own SpaceX
The China Manned Space Agency, which on Tuesday returned three astronauts to Earth who had been working since May on the Tiangong space station, wants to pay private-sector companies for future missions.
BUSINESS
Powell hints Fed is done with hikes in pivot cheered by markets
Powell’s dovish pivot cheered markets, with the S&P 500 index closing more than 1% higher on the day.
BUSINESS
Fed holds rates at 22-year high, signals concern on yield rise
The decision left the target range for the benchmark federal funds rate unchanged at 5.25% to 5.5%, the highest since 2001, as part of a strategy to slow the pace of rate increases as the central bank nears the end of its tightening campaign
TECHNOLOGY
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt bets AI will shake up scientific research
The nonprofit, Future House, plans to develop AI tools that can analyze and summarize research papers as well as respond to scientific questions using large language models — the same technology that supports popular AI chatbots. But Future House also intends to go a step further.
BUSINESS
Apple plans hypertension, sleep apnea detection for next watch
Bloomberg News reported on these projects for the first time in an investigation published on November 1 on Apple’s evolving approach to health care.
BUSINESS
Infosys asks some staff back in office 10 days a month, bucking global trend
In an email to select employees in entry- to mid-level roles, the company asked them to come in for that minimum number of days, starting Nov. 20. Since the pandemic, they had been allowed to work remotely full-time, and the company’s other employees are still permitted to do so.
WORLD
Fed’s ‘hawkish pause’ to keep option to hike
The Federal Open Market Committee will keep rates unchanged at its two-day meeting ending Wednesday in a range of 5.25% to 5.5%, a level first reached in July.
WORLD
Stan Druckenmiller says he has ‘massive’ bullish bets on 2-year notes
In recent weeks, “I started to get really nervous,” Druckenmiller, founder of Duquesne Family Office, said in an interview with hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones at a conference last week. “So I bought massive leveraged positions” in the short-term notes, he said.
BUSINESS
Indians splurge big on festive season sales, buoying economy
Sales at online platforms like Amazon.com Inc., and Walmart Inc.-owned Flipkart was up by almost a fifth in the first week of the festive sales from a year ago. Digital transactions recorded by Unified Payments Interface surged about 40% in October from a year earlier.
BUSINESS
Indian energy producer AM Green seeks $1 billion funding
The firm is working with an adviser on the fundraising to bolster its ability to produce green hydrogen and other chemical compounds, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. AM Green aims to build a million tonnes a year of green methanol capacity, one of the people said.
BUSINESS
Prada sales jump as Miu Miu flats, cardigans prove to be big fashion hits
The Prada label, which accounts for more than 80% of group revenue, saw its growth slow to 5% in the quarter, down from 15% in the previous one. Miu Miu meanwhile, while much smaller in size, continued to outperform with a 48% revenue growth.
BUSINESS
Carmakers weather $2.9 billion UAW strike chaos with cost cuts
Early indications suggest that gains won by the union’s 146,000 members will not be as much of a blow to Ford Motor Co., Chrysler-parent Stellantis NV and General Motors Co. as early rhetoric suggested.
BUSINESS
Global rout sparks $27 billion exit from EM Asia Equities
Global funds are offloading emerging Asia equities outside of China in droves as broader risk appetite cools amid concerns over a stronger dollar, higher borrowing costs and geopolitical tensions.
WORLD
At $40,000, luxury Disney World vacations drain wallets of die-hards
That tactic is now being challenged, as the era of free-spending revenge travel fades away and inflation pinches the pocketbooks of US families.
WORLD
BoJ is handing back the Japanese bond market to investors
Japan’s central bank has tightly overseen the government debt market since it introduced yield-curve control in September 2016, with its ownership of outstanding bonds surpassing 50%. But with the authority now suggesting it’s ready to let the benchmark 10-year yield rise beyond 1%, investors look set to take back the helm.
